Kuldeep Yadav’s return to India’s playing XI might take longer than expected even though he played a crucial role in the Champions Trophy 2025. The left-arm wrist-spinner hasn’t featured in any game since final in March. He was overlooked in five-match Test series against England and now he might have to sit out for first match of Asia Cup against UAE.
The Indian team held their first training session at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday following which the surface there showed noticeable green tinge, which is in stark contrast to the slow pitches. The shift from dry, spin-friendly tracks to greener, seam-assisting pitches has changed the team’s bowling dynamics.
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This is a disadvantage for Kuldeep Yadav as the pitch doesn’t suit his strengths which also means that India is expected to go forward with one specialist spinner which is most likely to be Varun Chakaravarthy, who is currently the frontrunner due to his effectiveness in T20Is.
“Again, we need to go and look at the wicket. I think when the Champions Trophy was played at that time, there was a lot of cricket on the surfaces here and they looked a little bit tired,” said Morne Morkel
“So again, tonight we’ll have a first look at the surface, and I believe there’s quite a bit of grass covering on the square. So we’ll have a good idea going into the first game in terms of what is sort of a better way to go, but in terms of planning at the moment, we’re covering all bases and then we’ll make a decision obviously on match day.”
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“And for me, Kuldeep, like I said, he’s bowled a lot of overs in his career. He knows what to do to get himself ready for T20 cricket, white-ball cricket. And like I said, we can control only what we can control now, and that is when we do train now and when we have our sessions, that it’s focused, that there’s a purpose behind it and we have goals.
“We set those goals out and from there, it’s up to them to go out and lead with the ball,” he concluded.
